Pundit Exclusive: Celtic could land 'Brilliant' Lennon replacement after shock approach

Eddie Howe would be a "brilliant" replacement for Celtic if the board choose to get rid of Neil Lennon, according to Alan Hutton.

Speaking exclusively to Football Insider assistant editor Russell Edge, the former Scotland international has insisted there would be no point sacking the Northern Irish manager if the Hoops were just going to replace him with a "stopgap" option.

As revealed by Football Insider, the Glasgow giants are discreetly sounding out potential options in case they pull the trigger but saw their informal approach for former boss Martin O'Neill rebuffed.

It is understood the board are reluctant to get rid of Lennon at the moment due to the lack of outstanding options available to them at the moment.

However, Hutton has suggested that former Bournemouth boss Howe would be an exciting appointment who could get everyone at Parkhead pulling in the same direction.

Hutton told Football Insider: "Well this is the thing, I mean, who is available who can Celtic afford?

"All these questions would have to be answered. There's no point in getting rid of Neil Lennon if you're going to bring in someone that's not up to scratch that's just a stopgap for the moment.

"I mean if they could go out and get an Eddie Howe, for example, then brilliant, I think everybody would be on board with something like that but it's whether they could go and achieve that.

"I'm not so sure at the moment, I just feel something has to change but the longer you wait, the more difficult it's going to become."

Howe left Bournemouth by mutual consent over the summer after the Cherries suffered relegation to the Championship last season.

The 43-year-old took charge of 364 games during two separate spells on the south coast, while he also had an 86-game stint at Burnley.

In other news, Celtic have been handed a whopping £30million-plus boost by Rangers.